The new iPad 3 is here, we get a taste

That’s right, we got our hands on the new iPad 3! Join us as we take a closer look…

The new iPad feels slightly heavier in hand when compared to the original iPad, although that extra weight is most likely due to the expanded battery.

The third-gen iPad

The 5MP camera has impressive macro capabilities and good clarity even in low light, although color reproduction could be better. The time it takes to shoot a pic is very fast, and the shutter button half way up the display is handy in portrait mode. The iPad chose to shoot at a high ISO for the indoor camera samples, so expect the quality to be better for outdoor shots.

Some indoor camera shots using the 5MP camera

Apart from some initial stutters and those caused by notifications, the quad-core GPU allowed for gaming performance that was smooth and looked pretty impressive on the Retina display. Infinity Blade two makes the most out of it. Here are three full-res screenshots.

Infinity Blade II on the new iPad

Speaking of the Retina display, you can get as close as you like without being uncomfortably close to the display, and distinguishing one pixel from another by eye is near impossible. As such, the display is beautiful; the menus and text crystal clear and diamond sharp. Here is the Retina display compared to the one found on the original iPad.

New hotness iPad • Original iPad

The higher pixel density is most obvious when reading text.

New hotness iPad • Original iPad

Stay tuned for our full review to come, including our in-depth examination of the new Retina display.

P.S. And are we the only ones that are baffled by Apple’s new naming scheme? They are screwing developers, who, as evident in the AppStore, are not quite sure how to differentiate their Retina resolution apps. Users get screwed, too, because one year from now Google will not necessarily fetch them the right device when they search for “The New iPad”. And good luck with finding info on the original iPad then. And finally, third-party stores have a really hard time differentiating the new product for their customers from the previous two generations. Overall, it’s only Apple who benefit from the new arrangement, by getting to look cool.